The Praise House celebrates Juneteenth in historic Beacon Hill
For Immediate Release
Contact: Charmaine Minniefield
Charmaine@PraiseHouseProject.org
404-202-2271
Follow PraiseHouseProject.org LINK: JUNETEENTH PROMO
The Praise House Project is a community-based initiative by visual artist Charmaine MInniefield, which places multimedia, site-specific public art installations in communities to honor the African American histories of the area.
In honor of Juneteenth, on June 23rd, 6-9pm, The Praise House Project partners with Historic Lilly Hill Baptist Church to honor the African-American history of Beacon Hill and its legacy as a Freedman’s town in Downtown Decatur.
On June 23rd, audiences are invited to visit Historic Lilly Hill Baptist Church, for Sunday Morning Service starting at 10am. 344 Robin St, Decatur, GA 30030
Extended Interior viewing hours of the Praise House will be from 3-6pm. 346 W. Trinity Place, Decatur, GA 30030.
At 6pm, a drum procession led by Giwayen Mata, All-sistas African Drumming, Dance and Vocal Ensemble will lead audiences from Lilly Hill to the Praise House to a Juneteenth Family Reunion gathering on the lawn featuring music selections by DJ Cozy Shawn.
Audiences are encouraged to bring blankets and baskets with plenty to share with their neighbors on the grounds for a pot-luck Family Dinner from 6-9pm. Limited chairs and tables will be provided for the elders.
The evening will end at sunset with an exterior projection onto the Praise House, making the structure glow with Beacon Hill history, led by digital media artist Kimberly Binns from 8-9pm.
Sponsors include the National Endowment for the Arts, the Center for Cultural Power, DeKalb County, the City of Decatur, City Schools of Decatur, the Imlay Foundation, Georgia Pacific Foundation, the Wish Foundation, the Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta and the Tull Foundation. Community partners for the Praise House at Beacon Hill are The DeKalb History Center and the artist’s alma mater, Agnes Scott College and the Beacon Hill Black Alliance.
To learn more about the Praise House Project, visit PraiseHouseProject.org
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ABOUT BEACON HILL
https://www.decaturga.com/community/page/beacon-community
ABOUT THE ARTIST: CHARMAINE MINNIEFIELD
Firmly rooted in womanist social theory and ancestral veneration, the work of Charmaine Minniefield draws from indigenous traditions as seen throughout Africa and the Diaspora to explore African and African-American history, memory, and ritual as an intentional push back against erasure. Her creative practice is community-based as her research and resulting bodies of work often draw from public archives. Minniefield is a graduate of Agnes Scott College, Class of 1995. As a muralist her work, which can be seen throughout Atlanta and beyond, often depict the portraits of historical figures to uphold African-American histories in changing communities. She recently served as the Stuart A. Rose Library artist-in-residence at Emory University. Through a collaboration with Flux Projects, she presented her work Remembrance as Resistance: Preserving Black Narratives in Atlanta’s historically segregated cemetery to honor the over 800 unmarked graves that were discovered in the African-American burial grounds. With support from the National Endowment for the Arts Our Town Grant, Minniefield is presenting her Praise House Project at three different locations in the metro Atlanta area to celebrate the African-American history of those communities. Her exhibition of two-dimensional works on canvas entitled, "Indigo Prayers: A Creation Story" was recently presented by the Michael C. Carlos Museum on the campus of Emory University in Atlanta. She currently splits her time in residence between Atlanta and The Gambia, where she continues to study the origins of her cultural identity and Indigenous traditions by tracing the Ring Shout.
Headquarters for the Praise House Project, 404-549-7014, Nonprofit EIN Number: 87-2678144
